Early Life
His father, James Joyce, was a New Zealander who moved to Australia to study veterinary science at the University of Sydney, where he met Barnaby's mother, Marie, and they made their living as farmers.
Barnaby Joyce was born in Tamworth, New South Wales, and was brought up at Woolbrook. One of six children from a sheep-and-cattle farming family, he attended St Ignatius' College, Riverview, in Sydney.
Joyce graduated with a commerce degree from the University of New England in Armidale, and served in the Australian Army Reserve from 1994 to 1999. At university Joyce met his wife, Natalie, and they married in 1993. After graduating, Joyce moved around northern New South Wales and Queensland, and at one point worked as a bouncer. Joyce worked in the accounting profession before entering Parliament and is an FCPA (Fellow of CPA Australia). The Joyces have four daughters and now live in St George in western Queensland, where Joyce had an accounting business.
A Roman Catholic, Joyce served as President of the St George branch of the Society of St Vincent de Paul 1998–2004.
Read more about this topic: Barnaby Joyce
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“If there is a price to pay for the privilege of spending the early years of child rearing in the driver’s seat, it is our reluctance, our inability, to tolerate being demoted to the backseat. Spurred by our success in programming our children during the preschool years, we may find it difficult to forgo in later states the level of control that once afforded us so much satisfaction.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)
“I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)